Volume 3 - CH 11

That night. At the inn where I was staying.

I turned off the lamps and got into bed.

I had already stopped the monitoring and eavesdropping I had been having the shikigami do all over the capital. So I could sleep without any worries.

It was not very efficient for all the hard work I had done…….

If I lose tomorrow as planned, my tournament will be over.

All I have to do now is go back to school.

But before that, I might as well spend a day sightseeing. Unlike those two, I haven’t been able to get around the capital much,…….

“…… Seika-sama.”

Yuki’s voice sounded somewhat suspicious.

“Hmm?”

“Are you sure you’ll lose tomorrow?　Don’t tell me you’re thinking of winning…….”

“No, no. What’s the point of doing that?”

“You’re right, master….. but somehow Yuki had a hunch.”

“Sure  spirit foxes like you can make predictions, but have you ever succeeded?”

“Even Yuki once guessed at least the next day’s weather!”

“Isn’t it between cloudy, clear weather and rain…… and you’ve missed most of them”

I yawn and close my eyes.

“Are you going to bed?”

“Yes.”

“Then …… Yuki will go to sleep too. Good night.”

I thought I heard a close voice.

I felt something soft touch my left arm.

I opened my eyes and saw a white girl hugging my left arm.

I opened my eyes and saw a white girl hugging my left arm.

“…… Hey.”

“Yes?”

With a curious reply, Yuki, in her girlish form, looks at me.

It’s too dark to make out much, but it looks like she’s trying to hold back a laugh.

“No……Why so suddenly”

“Let’s sleep together for the first time in a long time! Seika-sama!”

“You’ve been sleeping on my head.”

“I mean beside you like this. I feel like Yuki hasn’t been in human form for a long time now!”

“Well, that’s true.”

“It’s good, isn’t it, once in a while!　The bunks in this inn seem to be spacious!”

“…… I guess I don’t have a choice.”

“Heh heh heh!”

Yuki hugs me.

I remember when I had just given her human form to her, she was so excited that she said she would not go back to her yo-ayakashi form forever, and even at night we would sleep under the covers like this.

If you look at her as a fox, she must have lived for quite a few years, but she still looks like a child. I wonder if she’s staying like this to match me.

Yuki suddenly reached out her hand to touch my cheek, and touched me stickily.

Yuki looked at me and seemed to be beaming.

“Uuhuhuhu, Seika-sama’s face is so cute…….!　You look like a little Haruyoshi.”

“Won’t you stop it,…….”

nd then, at that moment.

I felt a presence and turned my attention to the view of the owl perched on the roof.

This is …….

“I wonder if Haruyoshi-sama was like this when he was a child ……, eh, Se, Seika-sama!”

I turned my body around and grabbed Yuki’s shoulder with my right hand, and the white girl screamed in agitation.

“I’m sorry, I’m just a spirit, and I’m not supposed to be around other people!”

“Can you please be quiet for a minute?”

I embrace Yuki’s thin body and cover it.

I turned over on my —- other side and we rolled off the bed.

The sound of a thud echoed through the room.

“Ow!”

Yuki, who fell in with me, moaned.

The next moment, the figure that had fallen through the ceiling was thrusting a dagger into the bed.

A roar echoes through the inn.

The bed had been broken like a harpooned carp, unable to withstand the tremendous impact.

Startled, Yuki reverted to her fox form and dove into my hair.

I rolled further, grabbing Hitogami and raising myself up.

Then I turned my attention to the figure standing in the center of the destroyed bed.

“Ha, that’s radical for a night crawl, isn’t it? Mabel.”

Mabel’s reply was a flashing sword throw.

I duck and dodge the silver blade.

The sword, which had missed its target, smashed through the wood of the wall behind it and made a number of large holes. As I expected, the power was extraordinary. A night breeze blew in from outside, and the cool air touched my skin.

Mabel, who had finished throwing the throwing sword, immediately rushed forward with a dagger in her hand.

I stopped the thrusting blade by grabbing the arm and deflecting it. However, I could not kill the momentum of the rush. Unable to catch the girl who had hit me with her whole body, I broke through the hole in the wall with my back. I was thrown into the air with Mabel.

The night cityscape spread out below us.

I was on the third floor. It was no big deal.

I kicked Mabel as I fell to open up the distance between us, became aware of the flow of chi, and landed with my stance in the air.

Ahead of me, the assassin girl landed on the street with the lightness of a feather.

It is nighttime in the Imperial capital.

In a deserted alley, we silently confront each other.

The gravity-user girl’s face, illuminated by the moonlight, is expressionless. I couldn’t read her inner thoughts.

Once again, Mabel released her throwing sword.

I roll away from the snarling blade, and make a sign with one hand.

《The “tree phase” —- vine-binding-tsuribari-no-jutsu.》

Vines erupt from under Mabel’s feet.

Her eyes widened for a moment, but she dealt with it quickly. She cut off the vine in front of her from the root and took a large step forward to escape the surrounding vines.

She then used her momentum to close the gap between me and the vines.

A dagger was thrust toward my shoulder.

However, the tip of the blade pierced a single hitogami.

I shifted to Mabel’s back and attached another hitogami on her back.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

《The yang phase —- hakkei no jutsu.》

The kinetic energy was added from the symbols and was supposed to blow Mabel across the alley —-.

But.

Her dagger was thrust into the cobblestone pavement at the same time as it began to blow her away.

The cobblestone pavement was scraped away with a tremendous “clang clang” sound.

But at the same time, the momentum was rapidly lost. …… Eventually, her body came to a stop.

The smell of burning smells wafted around the area.

Hmm-.

I was able to get a lot of momentum going, but I guess I wasn’t quite there yet. She had probably increased her weight considerably as she was much slower than expected from the initial speed.

Mabel gets up slowly.

She was indeed pushed to the edge with that attack, and her breathing seemed to be a bit erratic.

I sighed.

She is strong.

How scary, I could die if I keep going easy on her.

I don’t like to do this, but I think I’ll turn it off. —-

“What the hell, shut up ……Ooto!”

I turn around at the sound of the voice.

I looked and saw a middle-aged man peering at me from the corner of the alley, apparently on his way home from a bar. He rolls his eyes at the cracked cobblestones and the holed exterior wall of the inn.

“Sorry for intrud~ huh, isn’t that the hero?”

Before I could unleash my technique …….

Mabel’s throwing sword was flying from behind me.

The slender throwing sword hit the city wall at the corner where the man was, , destroying it with a loud crash, sending shards of debris and dust down to the intruder.

“Hee!”

With a short scream, the middle-aged man runs away.

When I turn around, Mabel is already gone.

The nighttime alley is quiet again.

I let out a breath of calmness.

“Hmmm……….”

As my head cools, I feel my thoughts return.

I calmly think back on the fight and realize a few things.

Yuki fearfully peeks out of my hair.

‘Seika-sama,……, um, what was that?”

‘…… tomorrow’s preliminaries, I’d say. I’ve made up my mind, Yuki.”

I smiled and told Yuki.

“She’s come all this way to see me. Shall we spend the night with her?”